Champs look for a quicker start

FOXBORO, Mass. -- The champions stroll around training camp wearing T-shirts with the motivational message, "Targeting September."

A year ago, the same Patriots franchise that was coming off a 5-11 season sported T-shirts bearing a cry for help, "Wanted: Winners." That proved prophetic when New England won the Super Bowl for the first time in its 42-year history.

If coach Bill Belichick's sartorial strategy keeps working, the Patriots will get off to the fast start they haven't had in his two seasons as coach.

"Our target is the first month," Belichick said.

The Patriots aren't looking much beyond the extravaganza that will be the season opener, a Monday night rematch with the team it beat for the AFC title, the Pittsburgh Steelers. The game is Sept. 9 in New England's new, state-of-the-art stadium.

They're certainly not looking back.

"There are going to be different ways to be successful," quarterback Tom Brady said. "Plays that worked last year probably won't work this year. Some plays that didn't work last year might work this year."

Brady worked hard in his first camp as the starter following Drew Bledsoe's trade to Buffalo. None of his offseason celebrity -- a visit to the Playboy mansion, judge of a beauty contest, cover boy on numerous magazines -- has changed his approach.

Behind Brady's endearing smile lurks a fierce competitiveness, a fearless confidence and the knowledge he can't take anything for granted -- especially because he threw only three touchdown passes in the last eight games last season.

"You have to improve mentally," Brady said. "I like to be perfect every play."

Belichick demands nothing less.

Making a name

A defensive wizard who flopped as a head coach in Cleveland and was viewed as little more than Bill Parcells' longtime assistant, Belichick emerged as a superb tactician interested in one thing: using players who give the team its best chance of winning regardless of their accomplishments and contracts.

"He is probably the most focused on football over, I'm not going to say all head coaches, but most of the head coaches I've been under," said defensive tackle Steve Martin, now with his fifth NFL team. "A lot of the head coaches I've been under spend a lot of time worrying about logistics and some of the political things, and he is 100 percent about football every day."

Martin, a starter last year for the New York Jets, was one of 14 new veteran free agents signed in the offseason. Few teams signed more.

That strategy worked last year, when the Patriots picked up Anthony Pleasant, Roman Phifer, Mike Vrabel, Antowain Smith, David Patten, Marc Edwards and Mike Compton, who all became starters.

This year's newcomers should help the Patriots avoid complacency. After all, they missed out on the huge, 143-diamond championship ring.

"I'm jealous," Martin said. "I get tired of people coming up and saying, 'Great championship,' and I wasn't there."

Like last season, training camp has had some difficult elements.

Last summer, quarterbacks coach Dick Rehbein died of heart failure. This summer, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis suffered serious complications from gastric bypass surgery, commonly known as stomach stapling, and got around camp on a motorized chair. And on Wednesday, team owner Robert Kraft had unscheduled coronary bypass surgery and should make a full recovery.